Whispering Pines Tea Company

This week, I decided to do a gongfu session again after a night out. I’m liking this a lot. It may be a ritual for me. It’s the one day a week that I’m not exhausted from a cumulative sleep debt and I also don’t have to be up at a particular time the next day. So I can drink tea from 2-5am if I want to :-) The perks of adulthood!

The Jabberwocky was a perfect choice for my late night steeping. I’m enjoying it while listening to Maroon 5’s “Hands all over” album, which was a gift from my dear friend Cordelia. Both the Jabberwocky and Adam Levine have a little bit of that bad boy appeal (heeeyyyy boyfriends haha) I brewed this 15/15/30/40/60/90 sec.

Steep 1: This steep is all about that bready base taste. It’s also buttery and salty with lovely caramel.

Steep 2: The chocolate is here! Cue the dancing munchkins from Wizard of Oz. It weaves between the bready, caramel-y, salty, buttery goodness that was already rocking my socks off and takes it to a whole new level!

Steep 3: The bread retreats a bit, but the chocolate and caramel step up to fill that void. Oh, ok, if it must be that way I suppose I’ll survive :-P

Steep 4: The cream finally shows up! Oh hey buddy, good of you to drop by. This steep is smooooooooth and sweet with a wonderful amalgam of chocolate, caramel, bread, butter, and cream with a light sweetness to the finish. I’ve noticed that I tend to be a 4th steep kind of girl, at least with WP teas

Steep 5: It starts tapering off here. There’s still a breadiness present, paired with a light sweetness and a cooling effect at the end of the sip.

Steep 6: The tea is played out at this point. But I’m still gonna drink this steep :). This steep is just lightly sweet and a little bit cooling. Like a sherbet at the end of a rich meal.

I do love this tea so. It’s top 5 for sure!

I don’t know about you, but I love waking up with the Jabberwocky. Once you get to know the Jabberwocky, you discover he is no fearsome beast, not at all ;-). In fact, the Jabberwocky smells like chocolate and anything that smells like chocolate is welcome at my breakfast table.
The first sip though. Big sigh So much better than the lovely aroma or the Steepster hype led me to believe! There’s a rush of salted caramel blended with a river of dark chocolate. There’s a gorgeous bready element that reminds me of short bread. In fact, the whole initial flavor combination resembles these homemade twix bars sprinkled with sea salt that I make sometimes. After that first sip, I started to notice this luxurious creamy element that adds a big dollop of crème fraîche on top of that twix bar. Despite all these heavy, rich flavors, this tea leaves you with a refreshing and cool sensation. The Jabberwocky is positively sinful but requires no “Hail Marys” or extra cardio afterwards :)

I see why so many people love this tea. To start with, the little fuzzy snails are so cute. The tea is smooth, malty, chocolatey yum. So far I have steeped it a couple of times, but I think I could do more with shorter steeps. It’s pretty strong and dark.

I just realized I hadn’t tried this tea yet! Gasp! I’m sorry Whispering Pines, I didn’t meant to neglect you! I received a sample of this from Nicole, and I also bought a decent amount of it in a stash sale (was it Shadowfall? I don’t remember now, sorry!) It’s funny, even though this is a far less tippy Yunnan (appears to be about 30-40% tips?) than the others I’ve had from them, I can still definitely tell the quality difference in the leaves between their tea and other companies’ similar offerings. The leaves are long and unbroken, and very light and fluffy. And the golden tips have an obvious fuzzy texture and metallic appearance. Lovely! The smell is quite mild, like most Yunnan teas I’ve tried (some exceptions with the bud varieties). It’s light malt with some honey sweetness and vague fruit reference.

Brewed, it smells slightly earthy, but nowhere near the amount of the darker Yunnans I’ve been trying lately. And there’s definitely malt and dark dried fruit alongside it, which really turns it away from the mineral/smoke element that can be present in these teas. The taste is also somewhat earthy, but there’s no smoke here. There is malt and molasses with some dark dried fruits (raisins, cherries, figs maybe), and these really help to take the edge off of the earth notes and make this tea much more enjoyable for me. I wouldn’t call this tea bready, but it’s almost there. Not my favorite, but not bad for an everyday Yunnan, especially for someone who likes those darker flavors.

This tea is…whoa…it’s, wow, um, just really remarkable stuff. From the first sip it… no wait, first I sniffed the wet leaves and, what IS that lovely scent? I can’t quite place it. Wait, is that…miso? Whooooa, what’s THAT doing in my cup of tea?

I followed Whispering Pines’ suggested brew: 1 tbsp/8 ounces/190ºF for 3 minutes/5 minutes/8 minutes. There was cedar, there was honey, there was nut of some kind (cashews? pecans?). And I gotta tell you, this gave me quite a lift (which is just what I needed coming home from a long day of work). I didn’t notice additional tastes coming out at each steep, but they didn’t really go away either. Good, as they say, to the last drop. Yup, glad I got an ounce of this. It’s going to be a regular brew.

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #23
The tea box is on the way but I still have a few tasting notes to post. AND I loaded up all three of my infusers with tea before running to the post office to steep the teas later! I will never tire of these fun tea boxes!

A solid black tea! I want to say it is mostly tomato soup… my annoying taste buds have turned a ton of black teas into tomato soup. Luckily I like tomato soup (at least the canned) a lot better than I like actual tomatoes (but not necessarily for a breakfast tea!). The strength is mid-level. The second steep magically transformed into mostly cherries with a hint of the tomato soup in the background. Both cups are a little bit cedary. Not many teas have switched flavors like that for me in the past. I think what was once ‘malt’ for me is now ‘tomato soup’. Worst case scenario, as malt is one of my favorite tea flavors, tomato is certainly not. I might be getting burned out on tasting notes. I’ll have to resort to some old favorite teas I don’t have to write tasting notes for for a while, but I still have a ton of teas to review and a ton of new ones to try!
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // just boiled // 3 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

Originally I wanted to make Golden Orchid but I wanted to save that for after work tomorrow since it’s bound to be a stressful day. But North Winds was supposed to be smiliar-ish and since I had gotten that in the three tea sample pack that I had bought, I figured what the heck.
So I was kinda confused on how to make this. The package said use a 1/2 tbsp for an 8oz cup but everyone here seems to say use a full tbsp for their 8-12oz cups. And since there was just the tbsp in the package and I usually make 12oz-ish cups I just dumped the whole thing into the infuser. Kinda bummed that I can’t make another cup, but I guess I should’ve just done the 1/2 tsp for an 8oz cup. Oh well. Hindsight right? Lol.
The brew reminds me strongly of Laoshan Black to be honest. It’s got that same sort of roasty, chocolaty sort of scent that I remember from the Laoshan Black.
Taste wise I get a very heavily roasty sip, with a bit of sweetness in the sip. I don’t really get fruit when I get that sweetness though. Mild-ish astringency. I could see if I drank alot of it that the astringency might get a bit much after awhile. It’s mostly just a roasty sort of brew to drink for me.
After adding a bit of Truvia, the roastyness has backed off a bit and a more chocolaty sort of note has come up. Very nice actually.
Since I used my whole sample for this cup, I’m going to give resteeping this a second try at least. Just to see if that makes a different brew.
But I’m not sure if this is a reorder for me. I’m honestly not too enamored of teas that are so roasty tasting. But it’s certainly still a nice cup of tea to sip at.

When I was in grade school my friend Ginger and I used to harvest wild edibles and make pine needle tea. This tea smelled like our old pine tea but its much more subtle in flavor. I suppose we had straight fresh needles and these are dried so you lose the turpentine and sap tastes which is a very good thing. I found it surprisingly floral with a light pine mist (reminds me of midway up a piney mountain on a hot summer day). I will definitely be getting more of this but I also have 7 different types of pines right outside my door and it got me to wondering what it would taste like if I harvested some of their needles (torrey pine? black pine? ) I’ve only had white pine before. Of course I’m not a master blender so it wont’ get the floral part.

This is liquid dessert! With the perfect hint of vanilla, chocolate and cherries my only downside is that its caffeinated so I can’t drink it every evening before bed!

The first infusion of this is still my favorite.

I saved my leaves from last night and had two more infusions from it. And I never heard my timer on the third one so I have no idea how long it steeped for. But it still tastes good. Not bitter.

Still sick. Head is so stuffed. The lovelies on the steepster chat recommended a strong black tea. I picked this one.

Good choice.

Rich, strong, dark, cocoa, creamy, malty, sweet, delicious.

comforting.

Hopefully the caffeine doesn’t keep me up all night. We’ll see.

But it is making me feel better, even if my head is still stuffed beyond belief and I think I’m going to sneeze again.

Somehow this wasn’t listed as being in my cupboard even though I distinctly remember adding it.

I really like this tea.

I’m not sure when my tastes expanded like this, but they sure have.

And I needed a higher energy tea today for sure. There’s a lot going on today.

I have friends coming in from out of town soon. They were supposed to be driving but their car broke down part way into their journey. They instead took the car in for service and booked plane tickets. They’ll be here in less than two hours. I’m excited!

After that, we’re heading across the Mitten to meet up with other friends from all over the country. It should be a fantastic couple of days.

I couldn’t resist this tea just for the name when I placed my Whispering Pines Tea order the other day. It’s not one that I probably would have picked otherwise, even though I’m working to expand my tea horizons.

I’m glad I did. I will be honest, I don’t quite get most of the flavors that my favorite tea hobbit talks about with this one in his descriptions. I do get that baked bread kind of flavor, though. It’s a step.

I do like it. It’s got a rich, bready flavor that makes me hungry for breakfast.

And there’s also this :D

Time for Second Breakfast — A Baggins’ family recipe, passed down through generations of Baggins’s (thank you, Gollum, for that word)! I was told to keep it secret and keep it safe, but it’s so precious that I had to share!

A day in the Shire wouldn’t be complete without Second Breakfast! This blend is a tad lighter in body than your average breakfast blend, but a whole lot heavier on the flavor! Smooth, sweet, and thick, Second Breakfast is bursting with berries and chocolate. The body is silky and caramelly-sweet, coating your mouth with honey and stonefruit. Red berries can be noted in the middle of the sip along with a hint of pine. The finish is wildflowers and salted french baguette.

Enjoy a journey picking berries on the outskirts of the Shire with your Second Breakfast!

Notes: Berries, Chocolate, Stonefruit, Caramel, Malt, Pine, Salted French Baguette, Wildflowers

http://whisperingpinestea.com/second-breakfast.html

Available for pre-order as of right now! Shipping by the 17th :-)

Enjoy!~

http://whisperingpinestea.com/rivendell.html

Well, this happened :)
-
Rivendell is a majestic Elven outpost in Middle Earth, filled with lush vegetation, towering waterfalls, and clean, pure air.

Our Rivendell blend was inspired by this ethereal place. With a base of sweet Anxi Tieguanyin, roasted cedar leaves, and hand-cut Tahitian vanilla, this tea is the essence of purity.

Rivendell opens with the taste of cedar, cherry, and caramel flowing through a luscious sweet body. The middle of the sip coats your mouth with a nectar-like sweetness and hints at vanilla and chocolate, with a touch of pine nut and mineral, reminiscent of spring water that has flowed over miles of untouched granite. The finish is clean with hints of lilac and pear, leaving an aftertaste of cedar and caramel. It tastes as if the purest water in the world flowed through miles of sugarcane fields, scattered with nectar-filled lilacs and orchids, passed through a forest of cedar and cherry trees, then poured over a pristine granite cliff straight into your cup. It’s pure nectar and caramel with light florals, a hint of berries and chocolate, a touch of pine nut, and heady evergreen sweetness.

If there ever was a fruit fit only for the elves, this would be its juice.

Notes: Cedar, Cherry, Caramel, Vanilla, Mineral, Chocolate, Pine Nut, Lilac, Pear

http://whisperingpinestea.com/rivendell.html

I’ve been drinking this for 2 nights now. Tonight I’m having this for dessert with a taro mochi. It’s pretty much your typical chai, and it has no medicinal rooibos flavor.

Method:
2TB/10oz
Rinse: 20sec
First steep: 45sec
Second steep: 50sec
Third steep: 55sec
Fourth steep: 55sec
Fifth steep: 1min 05sec

I wish I could tell you what temperature the water was. I use an Adagio UtiliTEA to heat water and I don’t have a thermometer. I did the touch test for temp: I dipped my finger in and pulled it away quickly. It registered as “hot” for a moment, but not enough to burn. It’s the temp I use for green teas.

1. Herbaceous aroma and taste at the tip of the tongue. There is a slightly tangy flavor that I can’t place as a fruit. Not quite bitter, but tangy. There are woodsy notes too. Like fresh wood and forest. Each sip finishes creamy, sweet, and floral…similar to a tieguanyin. There is a buttery mouthfeel that’s more texture than flavor. It actually reminds me of a very light cheesecake, or whipped topping.

2. Now THIS infusion says “tangy lime” to me! It is slightly tart, with just a touch of bitterness that makes me think of lime zest. There is a spice quality that I can’t put my finger on. Oh, that frustrates me. It’s an herbaceous, plant-like spice that I’ve noticed in other shengs. Particularly Mandala’s Wild Monk. The creamy, floral finish coupled with the tangy lime flavor makes me think of key lime pie! I’m just missing the graham cracker crust.

3. Very similar to the second. Begins with tanginess and bitter lemon/lime zest. A very leafy, plant-like flavor too. I seem to be catching notes of aloe/eucalyptus. It’s a green freshness. Not as potent as the notes I was catching in the Jabber though. I hope I’m not reading it wrong, because eucalyptus is still a flavor that’s new to my palate. Finish is long: floral, cream, dairy.

4. Compared to previous steeps the fourth is soooo smoothed out. There is absolutely no bitterness. The tangy lime/citrus flavor has dissipated as well. It’s sweet, with notes of honey and melon. Unripe melon. Honeydew! There’s a hint of pine. It could be cedar, I admit, but it’s most certainly an evergreen. It feels juicy in a way that makes my mouth water. Again, cream in the finish.

5. This one is floral and fresh, sweet like honeysuckle. The melon flavor is still present—ripe, not unripe. Long finish with butter and cream. Buttery both in taste and texture this time! This steep has notes of hay like a white tea. Not quite grain, but hay, yes. Creaminess that coats your mouth.

Overall an interesting experience. I would like to see how this tea ages with time. I imagine the first few steeps wouldn’t be so rough. I drank this yesterday and threw the leaves into a jar of water to cold-steep overnight. Today it’s very leafy and fresh with faint notes of honeysuckle and cream. I didn’t catch all of the flavors that were described, but then, I don’t know what “camphor” or “oakmoss” taste like. It was definitely very green, as shengs tend to be. There were indefinable undertones of evergreen spice. Flavors that I have a hard time putting into words!

I’m excited to see what other people think of this one. (:

I’m a tea newbie, and this was my first wild-picked sheng to try.
I feel very unqualified to judge here, as I’m still getting used to the taste in general.
Brewing as directed on the package made the tea extremely bitter for me. Next I tried pseudo- gongfu with my ingenuitea with 10 sec rinse followed by 30 sec steep. There was still a bit of bitterness, so I’m thinking a 5 sec max steep would work. I’m not giving up on this tea!!

Yummy maltomeal goodness! I may have to start making this my go-to breakfast tea. I love it black prepared as the package instructs, but I may have to put some honey and milk in there to transport me back to those childhood breakfasts.
I think it was teafairy who said this was total pudding mouth…. And I get it now!

Today has been another cruddy day. It’s not been a good week. Penny, the kitty in my profile picture, has been acting off, and since that has resulted in WWIII in our house, I took him to the vet yesterday to make sure he wasn’t sick. Dr. Fear, the awesome vet, called to tell me that he is indeed sick, but we don’t know with what. His white blood cell count is through the roof, but all the rest of his number are fine. We get to go back and do an xray tomorrow because he does have a known lung abnormality that has never been identified. Anyway, that was just part of my great day. Work has also been awfully awful. I have a terrible stress headache, possibly from pounding my head against my desk in frustration. (Okay, I didn’t really do that, but I wanted to.)

So I needed some comfort tea. This was the tea I chose as jasmine is one of my greatest comforts.

Brenden, I love this tea. It’s a really good jasmine. Not too jasmine, but just perfect. Comforting. Peaceful.

But now I am out of it, as this was just a random sample thrown in with my last order, and it’s out of stock. (Yes, I really, truly thought about breaking tea buying hiatus for this one. It’s that good and I need it in my cupboard. I didn’t realize it until now, but I do.)

edited to fix the fact that hearts seem to break my tasting notes….

Brenden threw in a sample of this with my recent WP order. This morning, trying to get out the door and realizing I needed more tea at work, but having no time to deal with pulling out anything and no space for anything but sample sizes, I grabbed this and hoped for the best.

It’s really good.

I love jasmine teas. I love green teas. This is a beautiful jasmine blend. It’s not too too jasmine, but it’s still definitely jasmine. Beautifully jasmine. Deliciously jasmine. Dance on my tongue jasmine.

It kept me company all morning. On the website, there are directions for 3 infusions, but I got 4 for sure. I thought about doing a fifth, except I them knocked the brew basket off my desk and decided I didn’t want to use the leaves that were now all over my cubicle carpeting again. (Other than tea, this has been my day.)